Shyne Threatens Obama With 'Kanye West Meltdown' Over Chicago Murders
Former Diddy protégé Shyne has gone on a Twitter tear against the president. The Belize-born rapper has been calling out President Barack Obama for not doing more to curb the murder rate in the president's hometown of Chicago.
"If @barackobama doesn't do something about the genocide in Chicago fast," he tweeted Monday (January 14), "I'm gonna have an @kanyewest melt down & say Barack Don't care about?"
The rapper's reference to a Kanye West moment has to do with the meltdown West had while filming a telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. "George Bush don't care about black people," West said on the live telecast in 2005.
Shyne's Twitter tirade began on Sunday when he asked President Obama to call in his celebrity friends for reinforcements.
"Dear @BarackObama, call Jay-Z to fly his private plane Down to Chicago & you fly yours the same way you called in the stars to win Ohio#help"
"@barackobama I forgot you weren't an impoverished inner city kid! You grew up in Kansas & Hawaii! You only play the ghetto card come election time!"
Along with the request to add some celebrity attention, Shyne demanded that the president call a state of emergency in Chicago.
He pointed to an article that outlined the astounding death rate, including 18 within the first days of the new year.
The Belize-born MC—who was deported out of the United States after being released from prison in 2009 following a nine year sentence for his part in the 1999 Club New York shooting—has been trying to get back to the States with no success.
Shyne expressed his issues with the president well before the recent Chicago murder rant. In October, he called out the president over his policy in Syria.
“How Obama put the hit on Kadafy but Assad murdering tens of thousands of his own people in Syria & nobody doing nothing?,” he tweeted.
While many of his rapper contemporaries have been vocal about their support for the president, Shyne challenged the idea that, as black person, he should support America's first African-American president.
“Am I obligated to support Barack Obama because he’s half African-American?” he questioned, before making a reference to Chicago rapper Chief Keef's hit song. “That’s that ish I don't like!”
--Erik Parker, CBS Local
[Some tweets have been corrected for grammar]
